We started our butterflies science unit and the kiddos are so excited! We finally received our live caterpillars and I must admit, they realllllyyyy gross me out. I am not a creepy-crawly type of gal, but the kids love them, so they can be in charge of this unit 🙂

We filled in our K and W parts of our KWL using a Kagan game “jot-thoughts” and my friend Carisa created an adorable vocab butterfly to put up on our science wall. Jot thoughts is a fun game we use for brainstorming or coming up with lists of things. Students work in small groups and use post its or small pieces of paper to “cover the table” with their ideas. I usually put about 2 minutes on the class timer and students must call out their idea before they write it down and put it in the middle of their table. There are no repeats allowed! I also have each student in a group use a different colored pencil so there is individual accountability as well.

We use jot thoughts for:

– Spelling: How many long a words can you come up with? blends, digraphs, short vowels, etc.

– Writing: brainstorming, nonfiction features, etc.

– KWL charts

– Comprehension:  write down all the details you remember from the story

After the students cover their table, they can sort the ideas too. After recounting all the details from a story I will have the students sort them into beginning, middle, & end categories. After long a words, I will have them sort them by long a patterns. After small group work, we always come together and record everything whole-group. I don’t know about yours, but my students love anything timed and a little competitive!

But, back to butterflies…

Here is a butterfly observation booklet I made for the students to record their observations throughout our unit! Its completely free in my TpT store:

Butterfly Booklet Freebie!

Check it out and please let me know what you think! I am always looking for feedback and suggestions 🙂

Also, let me know what fun butterfly activities you are doing in your class!

Have a great week 🙂

Susan